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Lost skier triggers search at Revelstoke Mountain Resort

Skiers disappear into mountain fog while riding the magic carpet from the Revelation Lodge to the gondola mid-station at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

— image credit: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review file photo

by
Aaron Orlando - Revelstoke Times Review

posted Jan 4, 2014 at 11:00 AM— updated Jan 5, 2014 at 5:52 PM

Revelstoke Search & Rescue and Revelstoke Mountain Resort ski patrol spent part of Friday night and Saturday morning looking for a skier who left the resort's boundary and got lost in a wooded area on Jan. 3.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort general manager Rob Elliott explained the Revelstoke resident, a woman in her late 30s, is a season pass-holder familiar with the mountain.

She was skiing down the Downtowner run at about 2 p.m. when she decided to leave the run for fresh snow on the other side of the boundary. The long, narrow, traversing run connects the northern side of the ski area to the main south-facing slope.

She soon became stuck in a flat area. Elliott said she became concerned about her vicinity to the deadly cliff band that lays just outside of the boundary on the mountain's northern side, so she opted to stay put for the night.

"She didn't know where the cliff zones were," Elliott said.

Revelstoke Search & Rescue was notified after the skier's acquaintances called 911 on Jan. 3. They conducted a helicopter search of the Greeley area and joined ski patrollers in their on-mountain search on Jan. 4.

In the morning, the skier eventually traversed her way out of the area, reaching rescuers mid-morning.

Elliott said she was "a little cold [but] happy" but was otherwise unharmed.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story used the slang expression 'ducked the rope.' This has been replaced with 'left the boundary' as it's a more accurate description. Elliott used the expression "ducked the rope," although the boundary is marked by a mixture of ropes and signs. The area where the skier went missing is within the overall resort perimeter, which includes areas within that perimeter that are out of bounds. Some, for example, are cliff bands that are roped off, others, like in this case, are flat areas.

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